Perinatal Bipolar Disorder (covered in the webinar, but unfortunately no link on PSI’s website). Before, during and after my pregnancy, I was treated for depression. I was not diagnosed with bipolar disorder until my son was 27-months old and I recognized the symptoms of manic euphoria.

Thank you. Yes, I could have used the resources, as well, when I was a new mom (I wasn’t particularly young). Until I was hospitalized, I relied on individual therapy with no use of community or on-line resources.

Kitt – this is imperative, sensitive and deep subject. You are very practical in exercising and sharing it with us. I am learning a very source from you as I have a friend he is a bipolar and every time I share your materials, it has been a blessings. You have a great cause!

when i was pregnant with my first, my son, i was the happiest person on earth all the time. my husband’s male friends were so jealous that his pregnant wife was always so happy and kind.

but after my son was born, both my husband and myself lost our jobs, for about 3 mons. then my husband got work, and i was home with a baby who only nursed for 10 min, slept for 20min and cried for hours. nothing made him stop. he barely slept. he barely ate any at a time, but ate every hour. none of my female family members, who had experienced this, ever told me what the problem was. turns out, it was colic and gas, both. he was miserable, and so was i.

but i wasn’t just stressed out because he was inconsolable. i was seriously depressed, and was shut up in the apt in the iowa winter with this screaming baby. i now see from your post that i was at the least experiencing postpartum depression, and possibly even postpartum psychosis. when my son was about 18mos old, i, for many other symptoms/reasons, was evaluated psychiatrically. the diagnosis, bipolar. i never went for help, even tho i wanted it desperately. i thought it would make me a bad mother, so i never knew it was postpartum depression i was suffering from. but the bipolar dx makes so much sense of that now.

Parenting an infant is incredibly difficult, and as you experienced, some infants are more challenging than others. My son nursed around the clock and was not one for sleeping or napping. Our our internalized stigma, thinking ourselves a bad mother if we suffer from mental illness, is extremely painful. That I know from personal experience. I thought my son was better off being cared for by someone other than me. He wanted his mother. So tragic.

Reblogged this on Art by Rob Goldstein and commented:
This is important information.
My life would have been very different if my Mother had been screened for post-partum depression and psychosis. I’m going to re-blog this.

Sounds like such a valuable webinar! As you know I was diagnosed with postpartum onset bipolar disorder (PPBD) less than 2 months after the birth of my second daughter. I’m writing a book about my experience titled “Birth of a New Brain – Healing from Postpartum Bipolar Disorder” with a foreword by the world-renowned postpartum mood disorder expert Dr. Walker Karraa. Dr. Karraa’s new book “Transformed by Postpartum Depression: Women’s Stories of Trauma and Growth” was recently published by Praeclarus Press & is receiving rave reviews.

On a related note, there will be an International Society of Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) webinar given by Dr. Verinder Sharma titled “Postpartum Management of Bipolar Disorder: Challenges and Opportunities” on November 25, 12:00 – 1:00pm EST. To sign up for this free webinar please visit: